Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

The June member pick is by Allan: the modern (ish) classic Startide Rising by David Brin. It is the second book in his Uplift Series and won the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards for Best Novel in 1983.

I read this one back in college, eons ago, and it won my heart. I love this book! Uplifted dolphins! Aliens civilizations versus the upstart human race in a battle against time! The novel is fantastic.

I wonder, is this Allan's second pick? I noticed that an "Allan" also picked The Inverted World earlier this year. If so, you have excellent taste, Allan!

I read this about a decade ago and it is my favorite Brin novel to be sure. If you have not read the first book in the trilogy, no major loss as it is not nearly as good.

I agree that reading the first novel is not necessary to enjoy this one - I didn't read Sundiver first, and Startide Rising was still an excellent introduction to David Brin and this series.

I did go back and read Sundiver, and enjoyed it. Overall I'd say Startide Rising > The Uplift War > Sundiver > the second trilogy (not bad but cutesy and forgettable).

Startide Rising really brought me back to the science fiction genre after a few years away from it. Still remember the excitement I had when reading it, and that was over two decades ago!

Thank you. It is indeed my 2nd pick this year. I focus very heavily on Hugo/Nebula nominees and have a goal of reading the 6 "double winners" I haven't read by the end of the year. I've read about a quarter of all nominees and about half of the winners.

Great goal!

It is a great goal and I am glad you are selecting them for group reads. I agree with Mark on the Uplift saga; I would rank them the same. The first Brin I read was the postman (really good) and then sundiver (ok) but Startide rising blew me away! Looking forward to rereading it.

I got about 100 pages in but made a trip to the library, where I couldn't resist the pull of Charles Stross's Glasshouse. I read s synopsis of it and it really sounded interesting, and I've been curious about his work for awhile. I'll get back after......

Just finished Startide rising. It was a lot busier at the start than I remembered; with all kinds of species and POVs it got a little confusing and started off slow as a result. It really picked up toward the end and what a finish!

I'm about 60% through but picking up the pace. Like you said, it started off slow but moves along better later. I like it a lot and there are some great ideas. I like the way uplifted species are not quite "finished" and have their positive and negative traits. Cracks me up that no one wants to talk to the chimp - I know people like that.

I have fond memories of reading this the first time round sometime last millennium, so plenty of time to forget the details, and I had.

What was still fresh in the memory though is that (implicit) glorious optimism about humanity's future exploring the stars, combined with the existential threat of hostile alien powers. And, of course, the uplifted dolphins - though I'd forgotten that they came in different flavours.

I'm not finished yet, but I've very much enjoyed rediscovering the 'trinary haiku' the dolphins use to communicate as well as the power politics of extreme force and cynicism involving the alien powers.

Less attractive is the minor sub plot featuring low key sexual harassment, accompanied by collective shrugging and the undertone of 'boys will be boys'. Absolutely of its time, and I probably shrugged myself first time round, but times have changed.

Looking forward to the rest of the book.

Finished up several days ago. Really glad I finally read this, I enjoyed it a lot. Great premise, solid characters, great plotting. Made it hard to resist diving (pun intended) right into The Uplift War. But other reads, other groups.... I'll come back soon.